THE FAMILY FEUD BEHIND THE TNQ BANK FALL

Mammen Mappillai Freed After Confession and Apology

Post Covid period,we will see many banks in the world in crisis,and many bank mergers. In 1938, the Travancore National & Quilon Bank was liquidated. It had been the fourth largest bank after a merger of two banks in 1937-Travancore National Bank (TNB) and Quilon Bank. TNB was established in 1912 by K.C. Mammen Mappillai in Thiruvalla. Mappillai was a member of the prominent Kandathil Christian family which founded around 15 banks. His family also founded the Malayala Manorama group and the MRF. One of the founders was a priest who had some experience with running chits. 

People in the family blame Sir C P Ramaswamy Iyer, Dewan of Travancvore for the liquidation. But a closer look will reveal that the two families that ran the two banks, were in a rivalry inside the merged entity. The family feud gave Sir C P the chance to settle political scores. Obviously, it was because Mammen Mappilai had his own political ambitions. There was no need for Sir C P to learn politics from him-Sir C P was Secretary of the Indian National Congress in 1917. But Mappillai with few like minded Christians like T M Varghese, Barrister George Joseph and M M Varkey, had thwarted a move by the Travancore Government to merge Thangassery near Kollam into the State. Thangassery, like Anchu Thengu near Attingal, was part of British India and the ones who took part in the Abstention movement led by Christians then were hiding safely in these two places. Sir C P was then the Constitutional Advisor of the King; not the Dewan.

Let us go to the brasstacks.

TNB’s paid-up capital rose from Rs13,000 in 1912 to over Rs11.6 lakh in 1936. The reserve fund in 1936 was as high as 30% of the paid-up capital. Deposits rose from Rs3.75 lakh in 1922 to Rs177.65 lakh, a 60-fold increase in a 24-year period.

Quilon Bank was established by another Syrian Christian, C. P Mathen in 1919 with a paid-up capital of Rs 56,000. It rose to Rs 11.79 lakh in 1936. Deposits rose from Rs 54,000 in 1919 to Rs 102.57 lakh in 1936, about 190-fold increase in 17 years. In 1936, the reserve fund was nearly 17%of the paid-up capital, and there were 36 branches including three in what was then Ceylon.

Both Mappillai's and Mathen's fathers had earlier partnered in a bank named Thayyil Bank.Both Mappilai and Mathen had started the New Guardian of India Life Insurance Company  in 1934.

In 1937 both these banks merged to form TNQ. The merged TNQ Bank became the fourth largest Indian bank at that time after Imperial Bank, Central Bank of India and Bank of India. It had 75 branches spread over the country with the Central Office at Madras and the Registered Office in Travancore.

The honeymoon lasted barely a year as the bank wound up under court order in August 1938. Charged with breach of trust and misappropriation, the directors were arrested. In a trial where the defence was impeded at every step, the Directors were found guilty and sent to prison.Both Mappillai, Mathen, Mappilai's brother K V Varghese and Mappilai's son K M Eapen were sent to prison in 1939. Mappilai familywas released in 1941 and Mathen in 1942. Mappillai had tendered a written apology to facilitate the release. Mammen Mappilai didn't go to the jail as a freedom fighter; he went there as a fraudster. Mammen Mappillai’s brother K  C  Eapen died in prison.

Matthen,unlike Mappilai,refused to apologize.He had been extradited from Madras and imprisoned in Trivandrum, allegedly for balance sheet irregularities. He was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment but offered many chances to walk free if he would acknowledge guilt. He was released on January 22nd 1942 without condition or explanation and returned to Madras.

Chalakuzhy Paulose Mathen and his family moved to Madras. In 1952 he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Mavelikara constituency and in 1957 was appointed Indian Ambassador to Sudan. He died in 1960.

Matthen was born into a landed Christian family in central Travancore, in Kavumbhagom, Thiruvalla. He went to Madras after high school and did his Bachelor of History degree at Madras Christian College. He completed his education with a Bachelor of Law. He founded the Bank at 29.

K C Mammen Mappilai, after passing B A. from Madrsa Christian College, wanted to enter the Mysore Civil Service like some of his college-mates. But his uncle Kandathil Varghese Mappillai, founder of Malayala Manorama, persuaded him to come back to Kerala and become a school teacher.He joined M D Seminary High School and become its Headmaster. Varghese Mappillai persuaded his nephew to help him in the working of Malayala Manorama. He had an interest in chitty and lottery from the beginning. Varghese Mappillai passed away in July 1904, And the mantle of publishing the newspaper fell on the shoulders of Mammen Mappillai who was just 31 years old.

He resigned his Headmastership in 1908 and took over the publishing of Manorama as full time job. Along with publishing he went into a number of business projects some of which never saw the light of Day. Shipping, Road Transport, Retail Shop, Book Publications etc. were some of them. However, he gave Kerala's economy a new bounce. He used Malayala Manorama to popularise cultivation, particularly rubber, the MONEY TREE from Brazil. Rubber eventually became backbone of Kerala midlands and continues to be so.

He was a member of the Modern Legislative Assembly of the erstwhile State of Travancore.

Most of the banks then, including TNB, mobilized most of their deposits and earned profits via chit funds. The bank’s financials were vulnerable to certain shocks. Which is the case for most bank failures.This happened in the case of TNQ Bank too.

Mammen and Matthen's success in insurance company together led them to amalgamate their respective banks in 1937. The registered office remained at the Quilon Bank headquarters in Travancore but the main business of the bank was conducted from its central office in Madras where its primary shareholders were based. Sir CP Ramaswami Iyer encouraged this arrangement by offering to place Rs 7,000,000 of Travancore treasury money with the merged bank but this offer was never fulfilled. He made the offer to keep the bank in the Travancore soil,since Mappilai and Mathen had planned to register it at Madras.

K M Eapen,Bank Secretary with C P Mathen,London,1936

TN&Q Bank was established in 1937 with a new Quilon headquarters building which Matthen built at a cost of Rs. 140,000 (a very large sum of money at that time). To retain the business and deposits of the Travancore State, Matthen and Mammen had not only agreed to the headquarters in Travancore but that two of the bank’s directors were the Dewan’s appointees and also that the Bank’s General Manager, a confidant of the Dewan named K. S. Ramanujam, was appointed at the specific recommendation of Sir CP.All this was done,when the duo had a cordial relationship with the Dewan.

The bank’s financial run concluded with 88% of the public’s deposits being returned by the bank, and the bank becoming insolvent. At this point,Travancore administration demanded the extradition of Matthen and Mammen from Madras Presidency to Travancore State to stand trial for defrauding the public. Sir CP  convinced the British Government in Madras that the bank and its directors had been financing the Congress party so appeals to the Madras High Court and the Privy Council in London to stay the extradition orders were rejected and 3 directors of the bank including Matthen, Mammen and Mammen’s elder brother K V Varghese and Mammen’s son K M Eapen, were transported in chains from Madras to Quilon to stand trial.

At the trial in Trivandrum, the erstwhile General Manager of the bank - K. S. Ramanujam,  testified that Mammen and Matthen had defrauded the bank and four directors (including Mammen’s brother and son) were then awarded 8 years imprisonment. The bank’s remaining assets were liquidated by the State, and the bank’s assets were sold.The bank headquarters’ building in Quilon was auctioned  for Rs 15,600.It was bought by Kollam Municipal Chairman K G Parameswaran Pillai,for the Ophthalmic department of the district hospital. Pillai,who had a loan liability of Rs 86,249 got a waiver of Rs 56,249.K C Karunakaran,a prosecution witness,got a waiver of 2 lakh on his loan of 4 lakh.TNQ Banks,property just opposite to the secretariat in Trivandrum was auctioned off for Rs 16001 to Chattanatha Karayalar,Chairman of State Credit Bank.

U P Kukkiliya, advisor to the liquidators,became a judge of the Highcourt;he also got the 225 acre cashew estate of P V Swaminathan, which was pledged with the bank as collateral. He got it free.

K. S. Ramanujam vanished abroad after the trial. Sir C P sent word to Mammen and Matthen that if they admitted their accused guilt and sought the Maharaja’s mercy they could be pardoned. Mammen and his son agreed to sign the declaration but Matthen continued to refuse. Sir CP initially declined to agree to the release without all of three of them admitting guilt, but finally released Mammen and his son on receiving their written confessions.They confessed that only they are responsible for the fall of the bank.

Matthen continued to hold out on his refusal to sign the confession, despite heavy pressure brought on him through the Inspector General of Police, Mr Abdul Karim, visiting him regularly in jail and suggesting that he sign a letter – which the IG had drafted, requesting the Maharaja to pardon and release him.Mrs Mathen approached the British advovate general B L Mirett with all the records,and he wrote a report absolving Mathen. It was sent to the Viceroy Linlithgow ( 1936-1943).

In these circumstances,finally, on 22nd January 1942,  C. P. Matthen was unconditionally released by the Maharaja's Government without any written or verbal admission of guilt. The IG, Abdul Karim, took Matthen in his official car from Travancore jail to his house where his family had waited patiently for his release from jail. Thus,Matthen's position remained opposite to that of Mammen and family,exposing the separation and betrayal.He wrote his memoirs in 1951, called I Have Borne Much.

He died on 2 June 1960 in Paris, Île-de-France, France and buried at Thiruvalla.

Records prove the bank’s financials were vulnerable to certain shocks. Secondly,the Bank promoters alleged that the entity was brought to a grinding halt by C.P. Ramaswami Iyer, the powerful Dewan of the State of Travancore.

What turned Sir C P against the Bank was Mappilai's political ambitions. Sir C P's job was to serve the interests of the Travancore royal family, by destroying financiers of rival political agitations. Mappilai and the Bank were such financiers. K.G. Vijayalekshmy in the book Educational Development in South India (1993) highlights how the relationship between the bank and the government were strained. The emblem of the bank was similar to that of the Travancore coat-of-arms and despite requests to change the same, the bank insisted on the status quo. The Abstention movement in Kerala was started to secure adequate representation for the Ezhavas, Christians and Muslims in the state legislature. In 1938,when the Travancore State Congress was formed, it allied with the movement. The Dewan found TNQ Bank supporting the State Congress.The Indian National Congress was not there in Travancore.

Till today the Congress in Kerala is dominated by the christians-years later Malayala Manorama sided with the A K Antony-Oommen Chandy faction in the Congress to oust the Hindu Chief Minister, K Karunakaran.

Directors of Travancore National and Quilon bank with Sir CP  -C.P. Mathen (MD), K. C. Mammen Mappillai, M. O. Thomas Vakkel Modisseril(Director)

The argument of Mammen Mappillai in his autobiography, is echoed by his son, K M Mathew, in his autobiography, The Eighth Ring:

Sir C P managed to force a run on TNQ Bank branches in Madras. In March 1938, pamphlets were distributed in Madras revealing that TNQ bank was run by thieves and plunders. Most of these were printed at the Trivandrum Government Press.The Mylapore branch of the bank was chosen to orchestrate the run as it had the most deposits and most depositors lived locally.  The run soon spread to other parts of Madras city and then to other regions in the Madras Presidency. K.S. Ramanujam, who was the general manager of the bank, was planted by the Dewan to destroy it.K M Mathew noted how the promoters of the bank tried to save the bank by appealing to different set of authorities including C. Rajagopalachari. Rajaji told them to appeal to the Dewan instead! 

Both KM Mathew and CP Mathen,in their own respective accounts of the incident,allege that the liquidator, a former Imperial Bank and Reserve Bank official, was also planted with the connivance of the Dewan of Travancore, and that he disposed of the bank’s assets at throwaway prices far below their market value.

C.P. Mathen’s wife, Eliamma Mathen, On 26 August 1938, wrote in her diary: "Grave troubles in Travancore. Civil disobedience begins today. Lord be Thou with the leaders. Let thy will be done in everything. Perfect Thou the leaders in everything. Let them not be found wanting in anything. Psalm 73 is very apt for today. It foretells C.P.’s fall." 

Mathen's grand daughter Mariam is married to N Ram of The Hindu.

Mammen Mappilai

 Those were the colonial times and one should remember that with all his power and influence,Sir C P was only the Dewan of a princely state; he had no jurisdiction over the Reserve Bank, that assessed the financial position of the TNQ Bank and decided on the liquidation.

The central bank was established amidst multiple failures and was supposed to stabilise the banking system.The central bank facilitated the merger by giving it a large credit line at the start. In its first History Volume (1935-51), RBI discusses the events:

• First week of June, 1938: TNQ Bank approached RBI to provide financial assistance to the bank. RBI agreed on the conditions that assistance will be provided only after detailed investigation of the bank’s financial position. 

• 20 June: RBI asksed TNQ Bank’s auditors to investigate the books as per RBI norms. On the same day TNQ Bank asked the auditors to stop investigation as RBI was not providing any help.
• 21 June: TNQ Bank suspended payment. 
• 22 June: Court proceedings to wind up start in Quilon and Bombay. 
• 23 June: Winding up request presented at Madras.
• 27 -29 June: Madras Government meets RBI officials to address the continued unrest. TNQ Bank agreed to the Government suggestion that it gets its books investigated by RBI (again) to understand how much depositors could be paid etc. RBI estimates auditing expenses worth Rs10,000. 
• 2 July: TNQ Bank approached the Madras high court to release Rs10,000 against the assets of the bank. The court refused the request citing it had no such approval powers. It asked RBI to take up the investigation assuring costs will be paid later. 
• 8 July: RBI special officer investigated the books and finds that the bank was in a worse position than reported. It had exhausted all the realisable securities during the run, its balance sheet was incorrect, the bank was buying its own shares presumably with a view to keeping up their market value; and had loaned to directors and other interested parties on inadequate security, etc. 
• 18-20 July: RBI Deputy governor Manilal Nanavati in Madras 
• 28 July: The Deputy governor wrote to the government saying best option was to let liquidation continue. 
• 9 August: This letter published in local press.The bank is ordered to be liquidated by the district court of Quilon. 
• 5 September: The Madras high court could not take the orders of Travancore district court. Thus, it issued its own winding-up order. 
• 21 March 1955: The above jurisdictional tangle led to a dragging on of liquidation proceedings. The bulk of the deposits were in British India, but loans in Indian princely states leading to further complications. The liquidation finally completed 17 years later in 1955.

The Mappillai group still argues that the RBI did not provide urgent financial help to the bank.RBI's official histories defend its actions, saying this would imply “investing good money after bad". RBI governor C.D. Deshmukh in a speech in 1948, reflecting on the crisis, said that the financial position of the bank was not sound as is perceived. Its depositors could be paid 12-14 annas to a rupee largely due to calling up unpaid capital and war conditions leading to higher valuation for the estates on which loans were made. 

C P Mathen

As regards financial help from the Reserve Bank, one should realize that these were pre-BR Act days (the Banking Regulation Act came in 1949) and, therefore, any prudent central banker who has read his Lombard Street (By Bagehot) would have had to ensure that the bank is solvent before coming forward with assistance. The bank did not initially cooperate, for reasons best known to itself, and later did so only on court orders. BR Act, incidentally, was occasioned more by the failure of around 700 banks during the Second World War (on which, see a mention in a speech by Sir Benegal Rama Rau, the second Indian and longest serving Governor of the Reserve Bank) and after, and the interesting case of “missing banks” in West Bengal, rather than by that of TNQB.

What has not been much discussed in the context of the bank failure is the rivalry between the two groups which controlled the two banks which merged to form the TNQB. In KM Mathew’s Eighth Ring, there is  a hint that all was not well.

In his biography of Sir CP, A Raghu, however, takes another view of the TNQB affair, different from that of the Mammen-Mathen group. According to Raghu, it is worthy of  “a Hollywood thriller”.

K M Eapen, later

Puthupally Raghavan in the second volume of his five volume Viplava Smaranakal (Revolutionary Memoirs) remembers the jail days with Mappilai family and Mathen.Raghavan too has asserted that the TNQ Bank had financed the political agitations.He has said that the run happened because the depositors believed the Travancore government was going to withdraw its 75 lakh deposit,whereas the givernment had no deposit there.S Chattanatha Karayalar,a rich politician resigned as director of the Bank;  V N Narayana Pillai  resigned as director and legal advisor of the Bank.Another director Khaderboi too resigned.Karayalar became Chairman of the State Credit Bank,and Pillai government Pleader.

Raghavan was imprisoned on 7 February 1939, after a political murder.

Death in Jail:K C Eapen with wife Kunjumdamma

According to him, Mappilai, Mathen and others were brought to the jail on 5 April, 1039.They were arrested in Madras on 20 October 1938.Their journey to the Central jail in Poojapura got delayed because of the case they fought against extradition.On 4 April,1039 a British army Sergeant escorted them in the Trivandrum Express.At Shenkottai, theTravancore police waited to take and parade them to Trivandrum.But the British Sergeant refused to hand them over.He escorted them to the jail.They arrived by 8 pm and were sent to a segregated cell.Mappilai was 66.

Within days of their arrival, Bank's deputy Chairman and Mappilai's younger brother K C Eapen alongwith K S Ramanujam surrendered in jail.Though very sick,K C Eapen wanted to spent his days with the family in jail.

The trial began in the second week of August.The trial was completed within two weeks and the case committed to the Sessions court. Sessions trial began on 18 September and it was over in four months time. The verdict came on 4 January 1940. Mappillai, Mathen,K C Eapen and K M Eapen were sentenced to eight years rigorous imprisonment. Ramanujam, who turned approver, was exonerated and given a reward of Rs 30,000.

The Higcourt dismissed the appeal filed by the convicts.Mappilai and the group were shifted from the segregation cell to the common jail. Mappilai and younger brother K C Eapen were in separate cells in the civil ward close to the main gate;Mathen in the fourth cell, K M Eapen and Varghese in another one. All of them had fetters on the left leg.

Within a short span of time,the condition of the asthmatic K C Eapen became worse.His end came on a night and dead body was removed only after six hours,when the lock up got opened in the morning. Mappillai in the adjoining cell,listened to hapless moans in the adjoining cell. A book on him, Jayilile Valyappan ( The Grandpa in Jail ), mentions the inner squabbles within the families.Son of Thayyil Appan and Thayyil Kandathil Mariyamma, K C Eapen died a broken man.

While the blame for the TNQ Bank's fall was put by the Christian lobby on the shoulders of Sir CP, another Christian bank,Palai Central Bank got liquidated without him-it is another story. Stories of the two banks should be read together for the complete picture.

© Ramachandran 

THE LAST MALAYALI ICS OFFICER

He Was Involved in the Tibet Operation

IT was while researching on M Balachandra Koman,who was selected to the ICS in 1923,I stumbled upon V M M Nair,the last Malayali I C S officer.While Koman is an unsung hero,V M M Nair,who celebrated his 100th birth day last year ( 2019) is not a human interest story to any of the Malayalam dailies,which thrive in mediocrity.In 1987 when I searched for the surviving Malayali officers,I could find only K Balachandran in Bengaluru.I was told a Tamil Brahmin from North Parur had got into the ICS but died early as a drunkard.

Four Malayalis have become judges after getting into the Indian Civil Service.They are M C Balachandra Koman,A S P Ayyar,A L Fletcher and P T Raman Nair.While Raman Nair has been celebrated to an extent,Koman remains unsung.People from the backward communities seldom get recognition,since histories are written by the so called elites.Fletcher and A S P Ayyar have never been identified as Malayalis.Fletcher,1933 Punjab cader ICS,was only a district judge. AL Fletcher (Punjab, 1933) who had been the District Judge, Gujranwala (now in Pakistan) moved from the Judicial Branch of the ICS to the Executive, worked as Commissioner, Jalandhar Division and had a long stint as Financial Commissioner at Chandigarh.

V M M Nair

Ayilam Subramania Panchapakesa Ayyar ( 1899-1963 ) was born at Ayilam,a Palakkad hamlet.K P K Menon has written a biography of him.He himself wrote his service story-Twenty five Years as a Civilian.He presided over both the sensational Laxmikanthan and the Alavandar murder cases.His son,former Foreign Secretary A P Venkateswaran has been identified as a Malayali.A S P Ayyar presided over the sensational Alavandar murder case.

It was Raman Nair,as Registrar,who led Koman to the dais for the swearing in as Judge of the Madras High Court in September,1945.Nair opted for Kerala after the states re organization and became a Judge in the Kerala High Court on 22 February,1957.Nair was the Commission that enquired the Andhra rice scandal during the first EMS government of 1957-1959.Koman enquired the 5.5 Lakh scandal against Panampilly Govinda Menon.

Koman was thus the first Malayali ICS judge in the Madras High Court;A S P Ayyar followed in 1950.Raman Nair was the only ICS judge in the Kerala High Court.M C B Koman was the son of Rao Bahadur Sir Dr M C Koman, Civil Surgeon, Madras General Hospital,and later Vice Principal,Madras Medical College.

Besides K.P.S. Menon (1921), Under
Secretary Ministry of External Affairs,A S P Ayyar,  M.C.B. Koman (1923) alongwith N R Pillai,were the next Malayalis to achieve this coveted position, in the 1920s.Pillai became India's first cabinet secretary. K W P Marar,who got selected to the ICS in 1928,committed suicide,while he was Chairman of Cochin Port Trust.

A L Fletcher

Anthony Leocadia Fletcher, son of Peter Fletcher and Helen Fletcher, was born on 9 December 1909 in a Christian family of Kerala. He completed his school education from St. Joseph's Higher Secondary School, Trivandrum. He did his B.Sc. from University of Madras and M.Sc. from University of Nagpur. Then he went to School of Oriental Studies for further education and joined as Indian Civil Servant in London,in 1933.

S K Chettur,nephew of Sir C Sankaran Nair, studied at Oxford in 1929, joined ICS,became Collector of Palakkad in 1935,at  and at the end became Chief Secretary of Madras.M K K Nayar,in his autobiography,Story of an Era Without Ill -will,has said that in the 1940s,only one Malayali, K Balachandran had passed the ICS.There was a compulsory Indian language paper;for Malayalam,marks were miserly.In 1942 M S Ram got first class marks for all subjects,except Malayalam.He got only 46 in Malayalam,making it to the 16 th rank-only three were selected then.If he had got 61,he would have topped.

S K Chettur

M K K Nair seems to have forgotten V M M Nair,who got into the ICS in 1942,alongwith Balachandran-Nair became Balachandran's brother in law.Nair belonged to an illustrious family, and his father Chettur Karunakaran Nair was a District Superintendent of Police in pre-independence Madras Presidency, an uncle Sir Chettur Madhavan Nair (a son-in-law of Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair) was a member of the Privy Council, another uncle Diwan Bahadur Chettur Govindar Nair was Law Secretary of Orissa before independence, and an uncle Chettur Krishnan Nair was Public Prosecutor in Madurai before independence.

K P S Menon was the only Malayali topper in the ICS exam.

The young K P S Menon

There is a widespread misconception that ICS was conferred upon Koman and he did not compete for the exam from London. This is gross misconception and error inadvertent. The question of conferment arose only after 1950 when Dominion India attained Republican status. Little did one realise that it was in fact M.K. Vellodi then working with Binny and Company in Madras was the one conferred with an ICS after 1950.Vellodi was conferred ICS,alongwith V Ramakrishna,T Bhaskara Rao Naidu and Mohammad Shahabudin at the instance of the Justice Party to counteract the alleged prominence of the Brahmins in superior services. 

Mullath Kadingi Vellodi (born 1896) is never mentioned in the list of Malayali chief ministers.He was the appointed Chief Minister of Hyderabad state by the government of India after the fall of the Hyderabad state ruled by Nizam rule.

A member of the Indian Civil Service, he was Textile Commissioner and ex-officio Joint Secretary in the Department of Industries and Civil Supplies during the British Raj. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in the 1944 Birthday Honours list.He was a Senior Civil servant in the Government of India. He was from Kottakkal in Kerala.

As the appointed Chief Minister of the Hyderabad State in 1950-1952, he administered the state with the help of bureaucrats from Madras state and Bombay state.From April-August 1947 he was acting Indian High Commissioner to London. From 20 June 1958 to 6 December 1961 he was ambassador to Bern.

M K Vellodi

The first state government in Kerala led by E. M. S. Namboodiripad was rocked by the infamous Rice Scandal that pertained to alleged corruption in the purchase of rice from Andhra Pradesh. T. O. Bava of the Congress raised the allegation that the purchase made without floating tenders caused a loss of Rs 16.50 lakh to the exchequer. K. C. George was the then food minister. A probe was ordered under the Commission of Inquires Act, 1952 and Justice P. T. Raman Nair was the inquiry commission. Though the commission’s report confirmed the monetary loss, it also suggested that no one in the ministry made any personal gains. The government tabled the report in the Assembly, but with a dissent note and rejected the demand for K. C. George’s resignation.

A S P Ayyar

V M M Nair or Vallilath Madathil Madhavan Nair ( born 8 October 1919 ) is the last serving ICS officer when he celebrated his 100 th birth anniversary in 2019.He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. In July 1942, he was selected for the second-to-last batch of the Indian Civil Service, both the smallest-ever batch of the ICS and the last for which direct nominations were made by the India Office in London. He was subsequently posted to Bihar Province as an assistant collector and magistrate. In 1946, he transferred to the Foreign and Political Department (the Indian Political Service.He retired in 1977 as India's ambassador to Spain.

As a deputy secretary, Nair and his colleagues in the Department of External Affairs were involved in a British initiative to supply arms to Tibet.With Indian independence imminent, the British government determined to maintain a certain level of influence in the largely autonomous state and gain some leverage over the Chinese government, even to the extent of arming "peace-loving monks". In February 1946, British political agents encouraged Tibet to purchase Rs 3,82,162  (£28,662, equivalent to £1,197,662 in 2019 ) worth of weapons. The suggested purchases, intended to equip a brigade-level force, included 2- and 3-inch mortars, Bren and Sten guns, rifles and Verey pistols. Though this shipment was delivered to Lhasa in May 1947, some difficulties remained over approvals for ammunition. On 5 August 1947, Nair observed any disturbances in Tibet would have geopolitical consequences in areas bordering both India and Pakistan. He suggested both governments send Tibet ammunition from their joint supply ahead of partition. This was done, and the ammunition arrived in Tibet in January 1948.

K W P Marar

After Indian independence, Nair transferred to the newly organised Indian Foreign Service and was promoted to senior under-secretary by 1949.He was then posted to the Cairo embassy as first secretary, where he was appointed acting charge d'affaires on 19 April 1951.

Nair served in and headed India’s missions for over two decades in Egypt, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Norway, Poland, Morocco (accredited to Tunisia as well), and Spain.

The 1942 ICS batch is unique, as it was the last ICS batch recruited in UK. It was the smallest UK batch of the ICS ever recruited. It had only 2 recruits from the UK, both Indian candidates, and no UK (European) members.

There were other 1942 ICS members recruited in India, such as the late Mr. K. Balachandran ICS (Assam), a former Secretary to the President of India, Nair’s brother-in-law.

Nair was one of two such UK recruits, and the other recruit Mr. Chandra Prakash Gupta, ICS (UP) quit the ICS prematurely in the late 1960s after having been the Establishment Officer to the Government of India.

A unique coincidence is that both Mr. Nair and Gupta were born on the same day. Nothing is known about Mr. Gupta, though his birth centenary is approaching as well.

Nair, MA (Madras), MA (Oxon.), MA (Cantab.), Bar-at-Law, is one of very few Indians to have belonged to three superior services: ICS, pre-1947 IPS (Political) & post-1947 IFS (Foreign). 

Nair resides in New Delhi, together with his wife. 

Last ICS Batch-Standing first left Aga Shahi,Third from left AGN Kazi,Seated third from right Sir Theodore Tasker

                 

Over the course of his career, Nair held the following appointments:

Deputy Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs (24 August 1953)

Deputy High Commissioner of India to Ceylon (12 August 1955)
Acting High Commissioner of India to Ceylon (6 October 1956 to 8 April 1957)
Commissioner of India to Singapore and the Federation of Malaya (2 May 1957)
High Commissioner of India to the Federation of Malaya and Commissioner of India to Singapore (12 September 1957 to 20 June 1958)[13][14]
Ambassador of India to Cambodia (relinquished 3 August 1960)
Ambassador of India to Norway (10 December 1960)
Ambassador of India to Poland (24 June 1967)
Ambassador of India to Morocco (15 January 1971)
Ambassador of India to Spain (13 February 1975-1977 )

Monishi Mohan Sen

The last surviving member of the last ICS batch,Monishi Mohan Sen passed away on 23rd October 2019. He was close to 100 years old and was born on 14th December 1919. He belonged to the 1943 ICS batch, which was the last ICS batch ever recruited. This batch was fully recruited and trained in India, and had only Indian ICS officers as members.

Some other well-known members of the 1943 ICS batch were N. K. Mukharji, last ICS Cabinet Secretary and  Agha Shahi,  former Foreign Minister of Pakistan.

Sen belonged to the Bengal/West Bengal cadre and from the late 1950s spent his time in Delhi where he was Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, for over a decade, in both Defence and Defence Production departments, the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports, and the Secretary of the Department of Defence Production till his retirement. After his retirement, he chaired the commission developing plans and building the second bridge over the Hooghly river in Kolkata.

Sen belonged to a distinguished Brahmo family of Calcutta. His father  Bhupati Mohan Sen was a Cambridge graduate, and a member of the Indian Educational Service (IES), who became the first Indian principal of Presidency College, Calcutta, a post he held for 12 years. 

The late Principal B M. Sen, who had received the Padma Bhushan, lived long enough to see not only his son join the ICS but also be one of the last members to retire from the ICS after having been a Secretary to the Government of India. 

With Sen's departure,only one ICS officer in the world is alive, and that is  V. M. M Nair.

The first Indian ICS officer was also a Bengali-Satyendranath Tagore,in 1864.He was the second eldest brother of Rabindranath Tagore.P Rajagopalachari,who was dewan in Cochin and Tavancore,belonged to the 1888 ICS batch.Albion Rajkumar Banerjee,Kochi Dewan in whose name Banerjee Road is still there,belonged to the 1895 batch.

Finally,I assume that there was no Tamil Brahmin in the ICS from North Parur or Chendamangalam.In the list of ICS officers in the 1920s, Nilakanta Mahadeva Iyer is there in the 1922 batch and S Venkateswaran in the 1925 batch.Nilakantan was from Nagercoil and Venkateswaran from Tirunelveli.

© Ramachandran 

MCB KOMAN, FIRST MALAYALI ICS JUDGE

He Had an Affair with the Daughter of the Governor General

Four Malayalis have become judges after getting into the Indian Civil Service. They are M C Balachandra Koman, ASP Ayyar, A L Fletcher and P T Raman Nair. While Raman Nair has been celebrated to an extent, Koman remains unsung. People from the backward communities seldom get recognition, since histories are written by the so-called elites. A S P Ayyar and Fletcher have never been identified as Malayalis.

A S P Iyer (1899-1963), or Ayilam Subramania Panchapakesa Ayyar, was born at Ayilam, a Palakkad hamlet.   K P K Menon has written a biography of him. He wrote his service story-Twenty five Years as a Civilian. He presided over the sensational  Alavandar murder cases. 

A. S. P. Ayyar was born on 26 January 1899 at Ayilam, a village near Palghat in Kerala state to a landlord father. He initially studied at Trivandrum and Madras, moved to England in 1919 to study at Oxford University, and became a lawyer. In 1933, he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, London. He was appointed the justice of the Madras High Court during 1948–59. He married Vedanayaki Ammal in 1919.  Ayyar's son A P Venkateswaran, was a former foreign secretary.

Ayyar had published about 27 works which include novels, plays, short stories, literary criticism, religious works, jurisprudence, travelogue, biography and an autobiography. He translated several Sanskrit works into English.

Ayyar wrote his novels in the late 1940s and the early 1950s. His novels have historical settings. His first novel, A Historical Romance of Ancient India (1930) tells a story of a Gupta king who resisted the Hun invaders during the 6th century. His novel Three Men of Destiny (1039) is a story of Alexander the Great, with two other main characters: Chandragupta Maurya and Chanakya. 

Anthony Leocadia Fletcher (1909-1974) was also from Kerala. He was the son of Peter Fletcher and Helen Fletcher and was born in a Christian family in Kerala. He completed his school education at St. Joseph's Higher Secondary School, Trivandrum. He did his B.Sc. from the University of Madras and M.Sc. from the University of Nagpur. Then he went to the School of Oriental Studies for further education and joined as an Indian Civil Servant in London, in 1933. He had been the District Judge, Gujranwala (now in Pakistan) moved from the Judicial Branch to the Executive, worked as Commissioner, Jullundur Division and had a long stint as Financial Commissioner at Chandigarh. Fletcher was appointed the first Vice-chancellor of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University on 29 March 1970 and served until his death on 14 December 1974.

It was Raman Nair, as Registrar, who led Koman to the dais for the swearing-in as Judge of the Madras High Court in September 1945. Nair opted for Kerala after the state reorganization and became Chief Justice in the Kerala High Court on 22 February 1957. Nair was the Commission that enquired about the Andhra rice scandal during the first EMS government of 1957-1959. Koman enquired about the 5.5 Lakh scandal against Panampilly Govinda Menon.

Koman was thus the first Malayali ICS judge in the Madras High Court; ASP Ayyar followed in 1948. Nair was the only ICS judge in the Kerala High Court. Nair retired as Chief Justice in 1971-the only Malayali ICS officer to become the Chief Justice. It was Raman Nair, the presiding Judge of the Kerala High Court who ordered the liquidation of Palai Central  Bank on 8 August 1960.

Dr M C Koman's home Grants Garden, Vepery

Born on 14 May 1897 at Madras and graduated from Queens College, Cambridge in the UK, Balachandra Koman was called endearingly as Kuttimon received his I.C.S.
training from Haileybury in England.

Besides A S P Ayyar (1921) and K.P.S. Menon (1922), Under Secretary Ministry of External Affairs,  M.C.B. Koman (1923) along with N R Pillai, were the next Malayalis to achieve this coveted position. Pillai became India's first cabinet secretary. After serving in executive capacities, Koman was transferred from the Revenue to Madras Judicial service as Chengalpet District and Sessions Judge in 1935. S K Chettur, the nephew of Sir C Sankaran Nair, joined ICS in 1939, at age 34 and became Chief Secretary of Madras. M K K Nayar, in his autobiography, Story of an Era Without Ill -will, has said that in the 1940s, only one Malayali, K Balachandran had passed the ICS. There was a compulsory Indian language paper; for Malayalam, marks were miserly. In 1942 M S Ram got first class for all subjects, except Malayalam. He got only 46 in Malayalam, making it to the 16 th rank-only three were selected then. If he had got 61, he would have topped.

M K K Nair seems to have forgotten V M M Nair, who got into the ICS in 1942, along with Balachandran-Nair became Balachandran's brother-in-law. Nair belonged to an illustrious family, and his father Chettur Karunakaran Nair was a District Superintendent of Police in pre-independence Madras Presidency, an uncle Sir Chettur Madhavan Nair (a son-in-law of Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair) was a member of the Privy Council, another uncle Diwan Bahadur Chettur Govindar Nair was Law Secretary of Orissa before independence, and an uncle Chettur Krishnan Nair was Public Prosecutor in Madurai before independence.

K P S Menon was the only Malayali topper in the ICS exam.

V M M Nair or Vallilath Madathil Madhavan Nair was the last serving ICS officer when he celebrated his 100 th birth anniversary in 2019. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. In July 1942, he was selected for the second-to-last batch of the Indian Civil Service, both the smallest-ever batch of the ICS and the last for which direct nominations were made by the India Office in London. He was subsequently posted to Bihar Province as an assistant collector and magistrate. In 1946, he transferred to the Foreign and Political Department (the Indian Political Service. He retired in 1975 as India's ambassador to Spain.

M C B Koman was the son of Rao Bahadur Sir Dr M C Koman, Civil Surgeon, Madras General Hospital, and later Vice Principal, Madras Medical College. Balachandra Koman went to Presentation Convent, George Town, and graduated from Madras Christian College. Koman was born in the palatial bungalow, Grants Garden of Dr Koman at Vepery, Chennai. It was bought by G D Naidu in 1970 and the Gothic roof panel was demolished leaving only the tall structure.

M C B Koman was a Barrister-at-Law from the Middle Temple while a probationer with Indian Civil Service at Queens College, Cambridge in 1921. His first appointment was as Assistant Collector at Masulipatanam in Krishna District of erstwhile Madras Presidency He served the usual Revenue grades of District Collector, Under Secretary and Deputy Secretary in the Local Self Government Department and then became District and Sessions Judge at Chengalpet in 1935. 

Justice Koman was,  Assistant Collector and Executive Magistrate, Mangalore (1923 — 1935),  Judge, District & Sessions Court, Chengalpet (1935 —1940), District and Sessions Judge, Madurai (1940 - 1941), District and Sessions Judge, Tiruchirapally (1941 - 1942), District and Sessions Judge, Cuddalore (1942 - 1943),  District and Sessions Judge, Tanjore (1943-1946), Additional Judge, Madras High Court (07-09-1945 — 22-01-1946), Judge, High Court, Madras Sessions (23 -01-1946 — 01-01-1956) and Principal Judge, City Civil and Sessions Court (02-01-1956 — 31-08 -1958).

Koman was elevated to Additional Judge of the High Court in 1945 - 1946 when a European Judge went on furlough. Koman retired as Principal Judge, City Civil Court in August 1958. Thereafter he was appointed Honorary Director of  Legal studies at Madras Law College until his relinquishment.

In this biodata, it may seem that Koman, a High Court Judge, had become just a City Civil Court Judge towards the end-a case of demotion, which doesn't seem to be true. There lies the tragic flaw.

When the editor of Madras High Court Centenary Souvenir reported in 1962 that
"Koman reverted as District Judge, retired as Principal Judge City Civil Court in
1958", the year of his alleged reversal or the reason thereof was not made clear. 
There was no serious allegation or impeachment conducted against Justice
Koman. So what happened? 

Some vested interests were against Koman becoming a Judge. Chief Justice Sir Frederic William Gentle had resigned in 1948 on a difference of opinion with C. Rajagopalachari regarding Justice Koman's elevation to the High Court being made absolute the same year.

In an article on How the Madras High Court works, the High Court Registrar S.P.Thompson I.C.S. in the 1945 volume of Madras Law Journal says: "The original

side criminal work in the High Court consists of the sessions cases committed for
trial in the High Court which is quite distinct from hearing of referred trials. Since
1943 there have also been appeals from decisions at the High Court Sessions."

Randor Guy, the famous Tamil columnist admitted in his Madras Musings: "Until the end of 1955, criminal cases which originated in the city of Madras were tried by a High Court Judge sitting with a Jury of nine". This would help to dispel any adverse impression regarding Koman's alleged reversal.

A cursory reading of Letters Patent enacted by Statute 24 & 25 Vic.Cap. 104 of 1862
in connection with Chartered High Courts would remove any discrepancy regarding
the original criminal side of the High Court of the Sessions jurisdiction in Madras.
Koman's elevation to the High Court was under Section 2 Clause 2 of the same
a statute which stipulates that "members of the Covenanted Civil Service of not less than ten years standing and who shall have served as Zillah Judge shall be selected".

The sensational Alavandar murder case which rocked the city of
Madras in the early fifties was committed for trial before the single High Court sessions bench hearing of Justice M.C.B.Koman; its appeal was heard by a bench of two Judges in the same High Court complex presided over by Justice A.S. Panchapakesa Ayyar I.C.S, who became a judge in 1948. But legal luminaries seldom mention Koman's role in the case.

Alavandar case is a murder trial which was conducted in the Madras State in the early 1950s. The cause of the trial was the murder of a businessman and ex-serviceman named Alavandar whose headless body was found in one of the coaches of the Indo-Ceylon Express. After a trial which became a cause célèbre, Alavandar's ex-lover and her husband were found guilty of the murder and had been sentenced to brief terms of imprisonment.

C. Alavandar, a pen salesman from Chennai was reported missing on August 28, 1952, by his employer Cunnan Chetty (the owner of Gem and Co). The next day a headless body was discovered in a third-class compartment of the Chennai-Dhanushkodi (Indo-Ceylon boat mail) Express. It was found after passengers complained about a foul-smelling trunk when the train was nearing Manamadurai.

Police investigating the complaint, opened the trunk and found the headless body. An autopsy done at Manamadurai concluded that the body belonged to a 25-year-old male. Since it was circumcised, the investigating police officer K.Khaja Syed Mohideen decided that the murder victim was a Muslim. After a few days, police discovered a severed head on Royapuram beach, Chennai. It had been buried in the beach sand but was exposed due to tidal action. The head and body were sent to Madras Medical College for forensic examination. Dr C. P. Gopalakrishnan, who performed the examination concluded that both belonged to the same 42-year-old male. Alavandar's wife later identified them as her husband. Alavandar had served in the British Indian army and his fingerprints were on file there. They were used to conclusively prove that the murdered man was Alavandar.

He was romantically involved with many women. One of them was Devaki Menon from Kerala. In 1951, Devaki broke off her relationship with Alavandar and married Prabhakara Menon. But Alavandar continued to harass her, and hence Devaki and Prabhakaran decided to murder Alavandar. Devaki called Alavandar to her house at the cemetery road on August 28, 1952. There the couple cut his head off and buried it at Royapuram beach in Chennai. They put the body in a trunk and left it in the Indo-Ceylon Express. Then they left Chennai for Bombay.

The couple was arrested in Bombay and brought to Chennai for trial. The trial caused a sensation and large crowds thronged the hearings. Lawyer B. T. Sundararajan, appearing for the defence, argued that it was a homicide and not murder as there had been "grave provocation". The jury found the defendants Devaki and Prabhakaran guilty. On August 13, 1953, Justice A. S. Panchapakesa Iyer in the appeal, awarded a seven-year rigorous imprisonment sentence to Prabhakaran for culpable homicide and sentenced Devaki to three years in prison. They ran a hotel in Palakkad after the case.

Pending a good load of arrears of work in the business of the High Court,
Koman was elevated as Additional Judge of the High Court by the Madras Governor in consultation with Chief Justice Sir Alfred Henry Lionel Leach. As the Chief Justice went on furlough for three weeks, the oath of office was administered to Koman by Acting Chief Justice Sydney Wadsworth I.C.S. on 7 September 1945. Dressed in scarlet robes Koman was sworn in before a gathering of Judges and Advocates assembled in the Second Court hall of the Madras High Court.

The catena of judicial findings reported in Madras Law Journal 1945 — 1946, Madras Law Weekly vol.58, Criminal Law Journal volume 46, and Indian Cases volumes 216 - 221 provide incriminating evidence of Koman's ruling. After a very brief stint as Judge of the Madras High Court for almost five months, Koman was deputed by the Chief Justice to preside over the High Court of the Sessions to hear sessions matters from 23 January1946 till his retirement from office on 31 August1958. 

He left behind him an unequalled reputation of legal erudition remarkable and quite different from the pen of a prosaic and crabbed member of the Indian Civil Service. He proved to be an incomparable chief in the High Court of the Madras Sessions. Long years of experience as a veteran judicial officer at Chengalpet District and Sessions Court resulted in the stewardship of Madras High Court Sessions falling into his hands.

A keen interest in law induced Koman to take pleasure in the discussion of criminal cases. His judgments may lack the stateliness and dignity of T.Muttuswami lyer's pronouncements, or the subtlety and ratiocination of Sir Bhashyam lyengar's, although he lacked the extraordinary patience and insight of Justice Sadasiva Iyer in his appreciation of facts, Koman's judgments were instinctively sound and marked by the accuracy of thought and diction. With refreshing originality and a vivifying spirit, he brought to bear the discussion of well-worn legal intricacies. With a quick grasp of facts and a sure grip of the law, Koman's single bench pronouncement in the Alavandar murder trial remains a landmark in judicial precedents.

In the conduct of the trial, he was assisted by  Prosecutor Govind Swaminathan and by V.L. Ethiraj. Govind was the son of lawyer Subbarama Swaminathan, Tamil brahmin, and his Nair wife Ammu Swaminathan. He was the oldest of three siblings, the others being Lakshmi Sehgal or Captain Lakshmi and Mrinalini Sarabhai. He had his education at Madras and Oxford and qualified as a barrister from the Inner Temple in 1935.

Of the galaxy of Malayali judges who sat on the Bench of the Madras High Court in Colonial times were Justice Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair ( 1907 — 1915),  Sir Chettur Madavan Nair (1924 — 1939), Sir Mannath Krishan Nair,  C.Krishnan Nair (1920 —1927), Justice C.Kunhi Raman (1943 — 1948) and Balachandra Koman (1945 — 1946) and  A.S. Panchapakesa Ayyar (1948-1959). They revealed their glory and proficiency through the columns of the Madras Law Journal. 

Of these half a dozen Malayali Judges, Koman and A S P Iyer were the only ones with an I.C.S credential. Justice Koman sat with such eminent jurists as Sir Alfred Henry Lionel Leach, Sydney Wadsworth, L.C. Horwill, and M. Patanjali Sastri, and in Koman's death in 1968 it was felt that one more ring in the attenuated chain of the old order of the Madras Bench got snapped.

Koman was from Kannur and Kannur's Malikayil Chandappan family was then settled in Madras. That all of them could receive higher education from Edinburgh,
Sandhurst, Woolwich, Cambridge and London, before the end of 1920, 

is by themselves remarkable. This and several other examples from Malabar reveal
that even coastal ethnic groups from erstwhile Malabar district could strive to attain dizzy heights through intellectual attainment. They include Rao Bahadur V V Govindan (1869-1931), Asst Director, Fisheries, Madras, Govindan's niece Dr V V Janaki who became South India's first Gynaecologist in Mangaluru in 1905, V V Kunhiraman who was Magistrate in 1905, Rai Sahib P V Gopalan, President of Malabar District Board and later Member, Madras Legislative Council. Gopalan organized relief work and rehabilitation camps for evacuees and victims of Moplah Outbreaks in Ernad Taluk — taking a cue from his wife's uncle Rao Bahadur V.V Govindan who founded Fisheries Technical Schools under the Presidency (1919) P.V. Gopalan set up Elementary Schools in Malabar District known as Labour Schools (1920) to impart basic education to non - caste Hindus who fall outside Madras Education Rules. His uncle P.V.Chinnan was a boat and launch owner and stevedore contractor at the pier and was Customs Superintendent at Port and Shipping Office, Thalassery. It gives a convincing impression of the upward social mobility of the seafaring subaltern class and other backwards classes even as early as in Colonial times. The picture painted by the infamous Swadesabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai in his editorial in 1910 that the backwards are intellectual buffaloes in front of the elite intelligent horses, is blown to smithereens even with the example of Dr Palpu, who was helped in the Madras Medical College by Dr Koman,  Koman's father. Dr Koman, who was a professor there, while Palpu was a student, later became its Vice Principal.

Dr Koman

Despite a plethora of printed hocus — pocus puffing with pride on several British Knighted peers of Malayali origin like Sir C Sankaran Nair, member of the Viceroy's Council, Sir Madhavan Nair, British Privy Counselor, Sir Krishnan Nair, Madras High Court Judge, Sir Parakkat Appu Nair, Barrister at Law, and Sir Karunakaran Menon, Vice Chancellor, Madras University, in showering upon them with numerous accolades while extolling their greatness, Sir Dr M.O Koman, Civil Surgeon, General Hospital, Vice Principal, Madras Medical College, and Assistant Director of Ceremonies, British Freemasons Madras Grand Lodge, has had the most misfortune of yielding himself to interminable amateurism of interpretation. People who only have a nodding acquaintance with the Malikayil Chandappan family at Thayyil in Kannur are prone to denounce this stray remark. No one seems to know of these accomplished individuals because newspapers rarely run profiles on them. Such antagonism comes from the fact that he and his children held a mirror to realities that caste Hindus refuse to acknowledge.

For the fraternity of South Indian historians who indulge in a conspiracy of silence on Sir Koman and his equally illustrious son Justice Koman, Major Koman a product of Sandhurst and daughter Vijayalaksmi Korman of Queen Marys College, seems to appear a collection of interrogatives and a gauntlet of anxiety. Perpetual contempt for Sir Koman and his ilk who hail from a family that predominantly shares with Sir Francis Drake and Prime Minister William Pitt in British history the same resources of a common pool sadly resulted in an irascibly incorrect and slipshod approach.

Chief Justice Lionel Leach

The consolidated list of graduates of the Madras University for 1930 printed from
Thompson Press, Madras in 1934 M. Balachandra Koman's name is found changed to M.Balachandra Krishnan and numbered as 1419 who passed in second class in 1918 with Mental and Moral Science as optional subjects. Reliable sources from the M.O family at Kannur reveal that for some time in his life Balachandra Koman styled himself as Balachandra Krishnan. In the pictorial Who's Who of distinguished personages, princes, Zamindars and Noblemen in the Madras Presidency for the year 1938 published by the Pearl Press, Cochin and edited by T.M Satchit it is found on record under the caption M.C.B Koman BA, BL, ICS that he was District and Sessions Judge Chengalpet.

In the biographical details of Indian Puisne Judges mentioned in the Madras High Court centenary volume, Justice Sir Frederic Gentle is the only Judge to be elevated to the Madras Bench (1936) who was a colleague of  Justice Koman  (1945) at Queens College, Cambridge University. The only other Indian Judge who sat on the Madras High Court (1943) being a member of Queens College, Cambridge is Justice P. Rajagopalan ICS. We learn from Columnist Randor Guy's article that Koman was the Judge who tried the case when it was taken up before Madras High Court Sessions in 1952. It is primarily because the Chief Justice generally nominates one or two Judges for Single and Division Bench to preside over each quarter sessions often held four times a year to try offences committed to it arising from the limits of the city of Madras. The Judge sitting in sessions wore scarlet robes and wore wigs. The Sheriff who presents a pair of white gloves to the presiding Judge wore his ceremonial robes carrying the wand and precedes the Judge during the ceremonial procession towards the place of trial by the Jury. The ceremonial procession was escorted to the trial court by the Chopdar carrying the silver mace with two of the Sheriffs' orderlies carrying javelins. 

Although at present Additional Judges of the High Courts invariably have an enforceable right to challenge their non-appointment as permanent Judges should such vacancies in the permanent cadre arise, Koman's alleged reversal cannot be seen as a probationary sent out of office pending completion. It is because there was no Constitution under the Crown, to question or challenge a non-existing entity. Secondly, Koman's alleged reversal was worked out in such a way that no complaint whatsoever could be entertained by philandering Koman.

Koman  had in his possession two automobiles - Studebaker Avanti chassis
No. MSZ 6018 and Buick Riveria of the 1960 model of cars.

Being a chronic bachelor Koman's scandalous affair with an Iyengar lady, the daughter of India's then Governor General C Rajagopalachari, who once eloped with him was the talk of the town in closed quarters. It came in handy to his enemies to connect Koman's amorous affair with his alleged reversal. They said it resulted in his promotion being withheld; Koman was thus constrained to the defunct position of paralysis as Chengalpet District Judge instead of attaining celebrity status as becoming the official of the I.C.S. cadre. Instead, the elevation of Koman as Justice of the Madras High Court has to be seen as a logical culmination of a phenomenally successful academic pursuit.

M.C.B. Koman, during his short tenure in office as Additional Judge of the Madras High Court, delivered no less than eight Single Bench and 19 Division Bench rulings. 

When the Travancore-Cochin assembly in 1955-1956 passed a resolution condemning police high-handedness on Maharajas College students from the Rajendra Maidan (which police action was wrongfully justified by Congress Chief Minister Panampilly Govinda Menon thus leading to his government's dismissal) it resulted in instituting an impartial Commission of Enquiry into the alleged incident by any sitting Judge other than that of Travancore or Cochin High Courts. Hence by a special Notification issued by Cochin State Government, Justice Koman was appointed a Single Member Commission of Enquiry to look into allegations levelled against former Education Minister Panampilly Govinda Menon and allied matters. Menon was education Minister under Chief Minister Parur T K Narayana Pillai during 1948- 1949. Koman's conduct of public enquiry without fear or favour was most scrupulous that he was applauded both by the press and the parlour alike.

Chief Justice Frederic Gentle who resigned

There is a widespread misconception that ICS was conferred upon Koman and he did not compete for the exam from London. This is a gross misconception and error inadvertent because the question of conferment arose only after 1950 when  India became a republic. M.K. Vellodi then working with Binny and Company in Madras was the first one conferred with an ICS after 1950. Vellodi was conferred ICS, along with V Ramakrishna, T Bhaskara Rao Naidu and Mohammad Shahabudin at the instance of the Justice Party to counteract the alleged prominence of the Brahmins in superior services. Koman was a product of Queens College in London like his sister Miss V. Koman of London University and another brother Major S. Koman, a product of Sandhurst.

When Justice P.S. Sivaswami Aiyar in his Reminiscences of the Madras Bar (1924 MLJ 14) states that "Sir Arthur Collins the Chief Justice was once presiding our the sessions court when Mr Johnston was addressing the Jury," shuttle of associations start flying to 1948 MLJ 26, wherein it is found endorsed that "Justice Sir Frederic William Gentle who retired the same year was a Judge who sat on the original side of Madras High Court before his transfer to Chartered High Court at Fort Williams in Bengal". As it is only apposite and appropriate to advert to the observation made by Randor Guy in his Madras Musings afore cited, Justice M.C.B. Koman's deputation to High Court Sessions soon after his elevation to the Madras Bench attains celebrity status. In the unique case with Justice L.C.Horwill I.C.S. who was a judge of the Madras High Court from 20 July 1936 till 4 December 1936 for exactly 4 1/2 months so was the case with Justice Koman I.C.S. who was Judge of the Madras High Court for exactly 4 1/2 months. Despite a plethora of printed hocus -pocus puffing with pride belittling Koman as the only judge who sat on the Bench of the High Court for only just a few months, nothing would be more accurate and precise than drawing this analogy. A report in 1943 MLJ 45 of an unconventional appointment of a District and Sessions Judge who belongs to the permanent service as Advocate General in Sindh as to violate the very spirit of the Government of India Act of 1935 and the conventions attached to that esteemed office, may be cited in this context to show that anomalies and official follies do sometimes creep into the Judicial Department in India considering Justice Koman's alleged reversal in 1956.

Of the only five Indians of the I.C.S. cadre who sat on the Bench of the Madras High Court, the order of precedence was: Justice V.Pandurang Row I.C.S. (1933), Justice M.Shahabuddin I.C.S. (1943), Justice M.C. Balachandra Koman I.C.S.(1945), Justice A.S.Panchapakesa Ayyar I.C.S.(1948) and Justice P.V. Balakrishna Aiyar; I.C.S. (1949). In a suit (Rama Reddi Vs Seshamma dated 22 January 1946) filed against a Hindu widow on a promissory note executed by her in the renewal of a prior promissory note executed by her late husband, Justice Koman ruled that as the debt was originally incurred by her late husband, and as his estate subsequently fell into her hands it is perfectly valid to pass an order against husband's estate. Similarly, at the time of Koman's retirement in 1958, K.Subba Rao who had the privilege of appearing before him earlier on behalf of the Appellants in January 1946 at Madras had become Judge designate at the Supreme Court of India.

Rajagopalachari, Governor General

If Rajah Sir S. Ramaswami Mudaliyar's name can be clogged to Kottapuram Women and Children Hospital built in 1903 for the only reason of erecting the Hospital on his land, then the New Head Quarters Hospital (presently Beach Hospital) built at Munnalingal in 1951 can justifiably be named after another Knighted peer Sir Dr M.C.Koman, on whose land this building stands. It is learnt from reliable sources that M.C. Andi, retired Revenue Inspector and his cousin M.C.B.Koman I.C.S. relinquished and freely surrendered 71/2 acres of coconut garden land called Mukkuvathodi to the Madras Government without receiving any consideration thereof. Not only is this genuine act of munificence obliterated, but several are privy to many a snide remark attributing ownership of this building site to Dr Mugha Seth.

When Indians were allowed to enter Indian Civil Service — this service,- called heaven-born service where heaven being some pale shadow of Whitehall —became the Elysium of English educated class. A notable feature of the I.C.S. training is that riding used to be compulsory. Shadilal the Chief Justice of Punjab High Court was an I.C.S. candidate in 1902 who came out with flying colours in the written test and interview but was disqualified purely on the ground he failed in riding. This would go not a long way in showing that the riding examination in the I.C.S. was a test of one's skill in trotting, cantering, galloping and jumping over a fence. Riding instils a sense of self-confidence and fearlessness, for a man who could control a horse would also know how to control a mob. In1921 there were four Indians and four Englishmen of the I.C.S. cadre posted to the Madras Presidency. M. C. B. Koman appeared for the test at the Cavalry School at Woolwich in London. 

Normally during the 3rd and 5th year of service of I.C.S. men were generally recruited to the Political Department of the Government of India. These officers were also largely employed in the Foreign and Political Department of the Government of India directly placed under the Chief Secretary, controlled by British Residents or Political Agents. In 1924 a Royal Commission headed by Lord Lee came to India and recommended that 25 per cent of superior Indian Civil Service be Indianised. Though Justice Koman possessed two automobiles — Studebaker and a Buick it is worthy of mention that in those days, only Governors, Army Commanders and High Court Judges were the only persons allowed to use cars.

Madras lost one of the historical traditions of the legal system in 1955 — the High Court of Sessions, where cases of murder, dacoity and rape would be heard was abolished.

M.C.B. Koman undoubtedly showcased an intoxicating aura of grandiosity. That he had an affair with the Governor General's daughter may have naturally offended the conservatism of the society. But again, Koman, the first ICS from a Kerala backward family still languishing in the dark alleys of history, is a testament to the backwardness of our so-called progressive society, where intellectual hooligans like Swadesabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai, still survive as statues, making statutes.

© Ramachandran